Showing Off & Taking Credit For Your Work
Because everyone else is busy.
Yes, you should show off and take credit for your work.
No, it's not boastful or selfish. No matter what culture you live in, everyone is self-promoting, even if they pretend they're not.
Think of it this way: If you don't tell people how awesome you are, how are they going to know?
Is your manager going to maintain an up-to-date list of everything you've done? Good managers don't have that kind of free time, and someone who micromanages like that isn't necessarily doing it for the best reasons.
Are your colleagues going to preach your virtues around the office on top of all their own work?
Is the hiring manager going to dig into your past and put together a highlight reel?
From a different angle, it seems more presumptuous and self-centered to expect others just to know how great we are. That's not their job.
It's important to distinguish between good relationships and what others can reasonably do for us.
Although the first step is to surround ourselves with decent people who are willing to help others, we still need to follow through and ask for what we want, make our needs clear, and advocate passionately for ourselves.
You'll find that the more you help yourself, the more others want to help you too!
1. Find Practical Uses for Your Work & Promote Them
We've all had work that ended up in the same place as the socks lost in the dryer.
Somewhere in the purgatory of forgotten items are all the memos, reports, summaries, meeting minutes, and documentation that we submitted and never heard of again or got feedback on.
It's a shame. What's more wasteful than going 90% of the way and then ending up with zero?
If you were about to win a marathon, would you stop 100 feet from the finish line and decide that you were just too swamped with other priorities or too shy to be in the spotlight, and go grab a burger instead?
No, because that would be crazy.
But that's exactly what happens when we do great work but don't see it put to good use.
It can feel like bragging, but promoting your own work is beneficial to everyone because your projects can serve as a building block for others.
If you've made any type of improvement, big or small, make sure to bring it up to the relevant people so that they can gain the benefits. Post about it on your internal workspace or mention it to any colleagues who might find it helpful. Offer to demonstrate the tool and walk them through it so it's easier for them to try something new.
If you're asked to take notes, make sure to actually summarize them neatly and send them around. Never let them languish in your files just because no one asked to see them.
Even if all you did was organize some folders, that's still a very useful task that people never have time to do. They'll appreciate if you let them know how things have been organized so they can take advantage of the new and improved system.
2. Build Up, Never Hand Off
The tough reality is that people tend to run away from complicated, headache-inducing projects and flock to the glamorous, smooth-sailing ones.
This means that if you've done something worthwhile, you might find yourself facing the proverbial crawling out of the woodwork: people suddenly wanting to work on your successful ventures too and also asking for your help putting out all manner of fires.
This is all great stuff: new opportunities, goodwill, and credit where it's due.
Just be careful to tread the thin line between getting involved and getting taken advantage of. If you've turned around a struggling project, congratulations!
Build it up, don't hand it off.
Follow up on the improvements you've made, track progress and success, and think of even better ideas for the future. If you get busy with multiple projects, be careful not to reflexively drop your steady, successful projects and get drowned under new problems. It's not your burden to run around fixing everything under the sun; you have every right to continue developing your own creations and collecting your own wins.
Graciously accept help if you need it and grab the chance to practice your delegation skills, but don't feel obligated to hand anything off just because someone else is enthusiastic. Stick to your own long-term vision, map out a plan for the future, and only then, recruit help where needed.
3. Measure Your 2 Q's: Quantitative & Qualitative Success
Now that you've promoted your work and committed to its growth, the final step is to measure your success.
A measure of success should answer one simple question: did we achieve our goal?
There are two ways to measure: qualitative and quantitive. Even though neither is inherently better, quantitive measurements are typically easier to understand because you can easily compare one number to another and instantly see if you've accomplished your goal.
For quantitative measurements, which look impressive on a resume or LinkedIn, you can use absolute numbers (increased sales revenue by $200,000) or percentages if the numbers are difficult to understand alone (improved process speed by 30%). These are generally easy to figure out and if you have an awkward numerical value that's not very round, you can use the "over -- " descriptor (128 people can be become "over 125").
Qualitative measurements are more elusive, but they can be far more substantial if you're using them in an interview and have time to elaborate.
To pinpoint your qualitative success, picture the problem that you set out to solve and the method you used. Maybe you boosted team morale by matching people with the best mentors for them, resulting in more meaningful relationships than previous mentorship programs. If you manage people, perhaps you increased their clarity and understanding of career development opportunities by asking people to submit their questions and then aggregating resources in direct response.
Even though you don't have numbers to compare, the same principle applies that by comparing your start and end points, you can know if you've achieved your goal.
Help Others Help You
If we see our actions through and hold ourselves accountable, that's really all it takes to claim success.
Beyond boasting about being smart or capable, what we really need is the discipline to keep checking off those boxes and keeping others in the loop.
With these simple steps, you'll build a quiet but powerful influence that precedes you. Others will naturally want to help you and, over time, you'll have created a positive feedback loop that will give you an invincible reputation.